Tobacco-hanging machine



L. 1.1 PAYLoR. TOBAC-C HANGING MACHINE.

' APPLICATION FILED OCT. 23, 1920. I .1 ,429,250. Patented Sept. 19, 1922.

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TOBACCO HANGING'MACHINE. APPuc'AnoN FILED ocr. 2a, 1920.

1,429,250,v y Patentedsept. 19,1922.

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TOBACCO HANGING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED ocT. 23, Iazo.

1,429,250 PatentedSept. 19, 1922.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

I I *7 I I a. gw m1# Patented Sept. 19, 1922.

ToBAccoQr-Aiverne 'Machin-n.'

application .met october 23, 51920, sera-ai no. 418,979.

To all whom t may 'concer/a.'

Be it lmown that I, LONNIE J. PnYLoR, a citizen yof the United States, residing Iat Danville, in the r'county yof Pittsylvania and St-ate of Virginia, have invented new and useful Improvements in ,Tobacco-Hanging Machines, of which the .following is a speci- 'cation. ,Y l

This invention relates 'to machines for hanging hands `of tobacco although, fof course, it "could be yreadily used 'forthe hanging of articles of asimilar nature.

The invention deals more particularly with certain improvements in the machine disclosed in my Patent No. 1,362,893., granted Dec. y21, 1920, in which there is disclosed fa machine comprising, broadly, a Iconveyor for hands by which the hands are carried gripped at their tied ends and Ysupported iln pendent position. The conveyor :carries the hands against a spear point which penetrates the hand 1jus-t below `its t'ie leaf and forms an yopening in the hand among its leaves. The machine is also provided with means for spreading apart the portions of hands on 'each side of vthe `opening formed by the spear .and for iufling the hand so that the moisture in the drying machine into which it is subsequently introduced will thoroughly penetrate the hand,v After the hand is thus 'flu'fled and opened up it is' carried by the conveyor, in this opened-up con'- dition, to a `discharge point where it is deposited upon sticks held at this Epoint to receive the hands, the hands being placed upon the sticks in strad'dlinjg positron.

In the practical lemployment of the above described machine, which is i'disclosed .in ymy patent referred to, it ha's been found that it is frequently I'recessary to remove and clean th'e spear point 'which forms van fopening inthe hand, 'd -ue 4to Ethe fact that vgum and other matter vvof simi-lar character contain'ed in the tobacco tends to collect upon the spear, thus blunting .it and materially impairin-g its VAelfectiv'enes's. .l

It has also beenobserved that, `du'e to the fact that when the hand is impinged -up'on the spear point it is gripped only at "one end, its tied end, the remainder of lthe hand supported in pendent position, the spear does not lalways penetrate the hand :at the proper point, there hei-ng a Vtendency for the hand to swing laterally and thus vary the rela-tive ,points of Jpenetration in the various hands handled by the ina-chine, EAswill fbe `from its lspirit and scope.

Iobvious toone skilledin this art, .it is highly desirable that Vthe hands be opened up vat substantially their longitudinal center 'so that when they are placedupon the` sticks they will 'be maintained in a state of equlilibrium and thu-s not fall Ifrom`the sticks. i y

The .present invention has "as its objects to *y .provide Vmeans "for preventing -fthe'formation of gum upon the. hand penetrating member or spear point, improved means forv jgrlpplng the hand a'swit is impinged against the stick, a novel and -inore satisfactory con-v y penetrating member, and finally, ymeans for steadying the hands as struction for the they are placed upon the sticks. i

The. above are lthe `principal objects ofthe invention,4 and they `-and 'other objects "of/a :more vminute andvobvious character will'become manifest from a reading of' the following detailed/description in connection with the accompanying drawings, yin which Fig, 1 :is a Aside elevational view' ofthe forward end vof Vthe machine,

Fig-'2de a side elevational .view of rear `end of the machine, f 1

the

Fig. 3 is a front elevational view of lthel portion of the machine shown in Fig. 1,v

Eig. 4 is a plan View of a `portieri of the rear end of the machine shown in Fig; 2,

Fig. 5 is a side elevation-al vview of the rhandpenetrating member,

Fig. 6 is a jplan View of the member shown in Fig. 5, :and

Figures '7 and A8 are crosssection'al views on the lines 7 7 and 8 8 'of Fig. 6.

In the views which have above -been gene .era'lly described I have shown `one form of a device in which-each of the several improvements hereinafterdescribed 'in detail Jmay be embodied, but it is tobe understood that the Yshowing in "the .drawings and the following description is merely for the sake of-conveying a clear andcomprehensive idea of my invention, which is not limited to the specific details show-n, `but which 'mightbe embodied in other forms without departing p'enetratingkk In the draw-ings I have shown only so much -of the machine, shown in its entirety inmy' patent, as is'necessaryrfor a thorough understanding of the various features to which this application relates. In the draw'- ings, 10 indicates the frame of the machine, which may be formed from any suitable material, such as steel or iron,'and which may have vertical. frame pieces 1l spaced apart by cross bars 12 connected to the vertical pieces by any suitable means, such as the L- shaped brackets 13 and bolts 14. Between the frame pieces and supported upon the longitudinally extending frame strips 15 and the cross bars 12 is the hand spreader and dividing. member which, as set forth in my co-pending application, comprises, generally, a penetrating point 16, a vertically or longitudinally dividing member 17 and rearwardly extending and diverging bars 18 which are formed with main or shank poi'- tions 19 running parallel from bends '2O through practically the entire length of the frame of the machine. rThe spear point and' spreaders are supported upon vertical legs 21 to which the spreaders are secured. The spreader and spear point are located-below a 'convey-or which comprises the facing endless belts 22 which extend in a horizontal plane through the frame work above the penetrating member and spreaders and between two guides or presser' members' 23, 24. These presser members are each shown -in the device of this application as formed from two strips slightly spaced apart vertically and having therebetween idlers 25 which are disposed in the staggered relation shown in my co-pending application. rThe guide or presser members are each supported upon arms 26 which are slightly spaced apart and are connected to upper frame cross bars 12 by meansof angle bars 27 bolted to the arms 26 andftok longitudinally extending strips 28, which strips are bolted to angle irons 29 secured by means of bolts 30 to the cross bars12. The guide or dresser members 24 are uro'ed together to pressthe belts by means of springs 31 which are supported and act in the manner disclosed in my (io-pending application;

So much of the machine as has been already described is generally old, and is shown in my patent, although there are some structural features which vary slightly from the identical device disclosed in my patent.

As described in my patent, the penetrating member 16 is detachably secured to a bar 16 extending longitudinally of the frame beneath the traveling belts. Referrin to Fig. 5, the penetrating member is provided with a reduced threaded shank 35 which fits into a socket in the bar 16. The penetrating member is shown as being provided with curved or arcuate lateral faces 36 which taper to a relatively thin fiat tip. The lower or under face of the penetrating member is provided with a knife or cutting edge 37 which, as will be observed from an inspection of Fig. 5, curves longitudinally, and the upper or top face may be provided with a cutting edge B8 which may be comparatively straight. By forming the penetrating member as above described and slioivnin the drawings, kshould the hand be impinged thereupon so that the point of the penetrating member enters among the tied ends of the leaves or at the tie leaf, the tie leaf will be cut by the lower cutting edge 37 as the hand' is carried forward in the machineA y Referring to Figs. 1 and 3, it will be noted lthat immediately beneath the penetrating member, and slightly forwardly of the same is positioned a' pair of wheels or pulleys 39 secured to the lower ends of `shafts 4()y extending upwardly andv having bearings in brackets 41 connected to the transverse bars 12 of the frame. These pulleys or wheels may be constantly driveny from any suitable source of power (not shown) and serve to grip the hand at a point slightly below the point of penetrationy as it is impinged upon the penetrating member. lt is, of course, understood that the tied end of the hand is held between the traveling belts ofthe conveyor and thus, 'at the time the penetrating member is forming the opening in the hand, the hand is held both at its tied end and at a point below the point of penetration. In the machine disclosed in my patent, the hand is supported freely in pendent position while lit is being penetrated, but for reasons hereinbefore set'forth, it is desirable that it be held temporarily at both sides of the point at which the opening is formed.

In order to revent the collection of gum and other foreign matter upon thel penetrating member, any suitable means may be employed which will wash this member. ln the device shownin the drawings I have shown a ipe 42 extending horizontally in the direct-ion of the spear point and having a nozzle 43 which serves to eject a fine stream of water or other washing fluid against the spear point. The pipe may be provided with a valve 44 by means of which the volume of washingtluid ejected from the nozzle may be regulated. Of course, it will be understood that my invention is not limited to the particular form of means shown for washing the penetrating member since other means could readily be employed for satisfactorily accomplishing this result.

Referring now` to Figures 2 and 4, it will be noted that the belts 22 have a discharge point E at-rwhich lpoint they each move vin opposite directions around pulleys 45 which may be constantly driven to move the conveyor belts. At 46 (Fig. 2) is indicated the stick conveyor, the traveling chain 47 which carries the sticks being concealed by the channel bar through which it travels, but a portion of the same being shown at the left end of the figure where the channel bar is broken away. As described in my patent this chain carryingk the sticks passes beneath the discharge point of the conveyor and the opened-up hands are dropped thereon at thispoint. It has vbeen found. desirable to nasa-a so 'provide some means whereby the hands will :ba-st'eadied as they :are dropped upon fthe sticks and will thus be prevented .from fall- 'ing to tlhe side. To thisend any satisfactory form fof steadying meansmay :be employed, but in the accompanying drawings this means is shown in 'the form of a pair of fingers a8 secured to the rear ends of the guide or presser members 23, 24, as by bolts 49, and extend downwardly and rearwardly along each side of the stick conveyor. Thus, as the hands are dropped upon the sticks each finger serves temporarily to steady-the hands and functions in this manner until the conveyor has moved the stick a considerable distance from the discharge point.

In view of the fact that the operation of each of the features herein disclosed has been completely described in connection with the detailed description of the construction, it is thought unnecessary to again delineate the operation of these features or of the entire machine, which is completely disclosed in my patent referred to.

I claim:

l. In a machine of the class described,

means for supporting hands of tobacco, and

means for penetrating the hands comprising a member having a relatively sharp point and a bottom knife edge.

2. In a machine of the class described, means for supporting hands of tobacco, and means for penetrating the hands comprising a pointed member having a knife edge upon its under face, said edge being curved longitudinally of said member.

8. In a machine of the class described, means for supporting hands of tobacco, and means for penetrating the hands comprising a pointed member tapering in width from its point in the direction of its shank and having a knife edge curved longitudinally of said member.

4. In a machine of the class described, means for supporting hands of tobacco, and means for penetrating the hands comprising a pointed member tapering in width and thickness from its point in the direction of its shank and having a knife edge curved longitudinally of said member.

5. In a machine of the class described, means for supporting hands of tobacco, a pointed member for penetrating the hands, means forca-using relative movement between said supporting means and said pointed member, and means for moistening said penetrating member to prevent the accumulation of gum thereon.

6. In a machine of the class described, means for supporting hands of tobacco, a pointed member for penetrating the hands, means for causing relative movement between said supporting means and said pointed member, and means for directing a stream of washing Huid against said pointed member -toprevent the accumfiifl'ation of lgni-1n thereon.` Y I v l7.,- Iin a/machinefor operating uipon tobacco, ya member adapted to penetrate the tobacco, ,and lmeans for washing the :penetrating member to kpreventt'h'e accumulation lof` gum thereon. g y l i 8. In a machine for operating upon tobacco, a member adapted to penetrate the tobac co, means for directing a stream of wash-l ingiiuid upon the penetrating member to prevent the laccumulation of gum thereon.

9. In a machine of the class described, means for supporting a hand of tobacco by gripping it at its tied end, a pointed member for penetrating the hand adjacent its tie leaf, means for causing relative movement between the supporting meansand said penetratingimember, and means operative while the hand is being penetratedto grip the hand at the opposite side of the point of penetration from its tied end whereby the hand is thus held temporarily on each side of the point of penetration. A

10. In a machine of the class described, means for supporting a hand of tobacco from its tied end in pendent position, a pointed member for penetrating the hand adjacent its tied end, means for causing relative movement between said penetrating member and said supporting means, and means for gripping the hand below the point of penetration while it is being penetrated.

l1. In a machine of the class described, means for supporting a hand of tobacco,v means for forming an opening in the hand, means for supporting a stick in position to receive the opened hand, means for causing relative movement between said hand supporting means and said opening means, and stick supporting means, whereby the hand is opened up and placed upon a stick, and means for steadying the hand as it is deposited upon the stick.

l2. In a machine of the class described, means for conveying a hand of tobacco, means for forming an opening in the hand between its leaves, means for supportinga stick in position to receive the opened hand from said conveyingmeans, and means on each side of the stick for steadying the hand as it is deposited upon the stick by said conveying means.

13. In a machine of the vclass described, means for conveying a hand of tobacco,

means for forming an opening in the hand l 14. n a machine of the class described, the stick by said conveying means, said means for conveying a hand of tobacco, steadying means comprisinga pair of ngers means for forming an opening in the hand positioned adjacent the stick, one on each 10 between its leaves,y nieans for supporting a side of the stick and partly above the stick. stickvin position to receive the opened hand In testimony whereof I have hereunto set from said conveying means, and means or vmy hand.

steadying the hand as it is deposited upon LONNIE J. PAYLOR. 

